Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Lynn Sweet reported yesterday on a “pressure tactic” to force Ed Eisendrath out of the governor’s race.

Backfire. Two Blagojevich allies cooked up a plot designed to pressure Edwin Eisendrath not to challenge the governor in the March Democratic primary — a letter signed by 25 A-list Illinois progressives urging him to stay out of the race.

But the folks solicited to sign — almost all dwell in the world of state public policy and it would have been hard to decline — include friends of Eisendrath. Some tipped him off before he got the letter on Friday.

Once the letter started to circulate, “some people called in advance,” Eisendrath said. “Some apologized.”

Eisendrath said he considers the whole exercise, orchestrated by state Sen. Carol Ronen (D-Chicago) and Democratic donor Leo Smith, a child welfare advocate, “irrelevant.”

“It was something I thought was a good idea,” Ronen said.

38 Comments

Reopened that Question

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Since we’ve moved to a new site, I can now reopen Friday’s quite popular Question of the day.

Letâ€™s say you owned a tavern, and instead of naming sandwiches after prominent politicians, you decided to rename various drinks for them.

Go there and comment if you want.

UPDATE: I’ve been tweaking the spam controls a bit today. Some people have had their comments inadvertently sent to moderation and some may have been inadvertently nuked altogether. That shouldn’t happen as much now. I hope.

UPDATE 2: This was a bad day for it to happen, but you may have noticed that the feeds weren’t updating this morning. Most of them are live again. Sorry about that, but it was completely beyond my control.

UPDATE 3: All of the news feeds have been switched over from java to php. This should greatly speed up the page loading.

UPDATE 4: Adjusted the font. I think it’s now easier to read.

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“The Hidden Cost of Tenure”

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Here is the link to that series of Small Newspaper stories I wrote about this morning entitled “The Hidden Cost of Tenure.”

Reporter Scott Reeder spent six months working on this series, and it kicks off today with three stories.

Tenure frustrates drive for teacher accountability is the top story.

If you talk to Cicero Elementary School Superintendent Clyde Senters, it wonâ€™t be long before the word “accountability” comes to his lips. Recently a tenured staff member was fired, who had been routinely skipping work during the past seven years. “Her last year as an employee, she skipped more days than she worked. Can you believe there was still a question of whether she should be fired?” he said,

Then there’s, School boards lose power to fire poor teachers :

Procedure trumps everything when a school attempts to dismiss an incompetent teacher. The slightest error on any of the many forms to be followed can result in a problem teacher remaining in the classroom.

And, finally, Firing Mr. Roth: $400,000 and counting

Firing Cecil Roth has cost Geneseo schools more than $400,000, and counting. The case illustrates why administrators fear dismissing tenured teachers.

They also have this chart:

28 Comments

Welcome to my new blog

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I’ve been playing around with this site for the past few months, not quite sure if I should move from the arms of the safe, easy Blogger system to something a little more risky but much more pliable.

Last week made my mind up for me. I had to close several comment threads because of a handful of jerks. I am past tired of babysitting this place just because two or three people can’t seem to behave and appear determined to ruin the experience for everyone else. Next month session starts again and I won’t have the time to monitor it like I do now. Something had to be done.

In theory, I can now weed out the bad apples who come here simply to cause trouble. I can track them down much more easily and block them from commenting, or even accessing the site itself, and then confront them one-on-one. I will, of course, continue to steadfastly maintain the privacy and confidentiality of the vast majority of commenters who know how to act like adults.

I’m aware that the new three-column format will take a bit of getting used to. The columns are slightly narrower than before, but the main column is dynamically sized, so just increase the size of your window if it bothers you.

I’ll be tweaking this site over the coming weeks to make it look better and perform faster. For some reason, the silver background stopped working on my Firefox browser, but it’s still working on my IE browser. Weird. There are a lot of things I can do with this site, like conduct live interviews that readers can also participate in. I’m excited about the vast number of opportunities.

Many thanks to Illini Pundit for his help with dynamic sizing and backup.

And a huge thank you goes to Bill Dennis, aka the Peoria Pundit, for moving my archives over from Blogger and holding my hand throughout the weekend. The archives aren’t completely up yet (bug in the system), but that’ll happen soon.

UPDATE: Fixed a problem with centered text on some browsers. Sorry about that.

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Question of the day

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

First, read this.

Republicans have long been expecting a primary for governor, and recent efforts to pare what is currently a five-way race for the nomination in an effort to prevent a bruised and penniless nominee have so far been unsuccessful.

“My best guess is the field will look exactly this way after filing,” said one contender, state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin).

Still, he said, he anticipated more discussions among the candidates–particularly between himself and the other two social conservatives–about whether it would be best for them all to proceed in the contest.

“I don’t think anybody’s ready to blink. But what I sensed was there was a genuine concern about us being prepared to go forward next year,” he said of the GOP field, which also includes state Sen. Bill Brady and businessmen Ronald Gidwitz and Jim Oberweis.

Do you think any of the conservatives will drop out soon? Why or why not? Who? Why?

32 Comments

What you missed at Illinoize this past weekend

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

President Nixon reminds us of Steve Rauschenberger’s role in the Alan Keyes fiasco.

Syverson said Rauschenberger suggested they pursue Keyes, and that the move was backed by Fitzgerald. Syverson said he and U.S. Rep. Manzullo, R-Egan, were the first to reach out to Keyes, an account confirmed by Manzullo spokesman Rich Carter.

Jim Muir also remembers back to last year.

Pat Hickey has an on-the-scene report from Alexi Giannoulis’ state treasurer kickoff.

Charlie Johnston whacks Joe Birkett.

Joe Birkett needed to accomplish two things last week: to indict the right man and to demonstrate that his office knows the difference between right and wrong. He got the former right. He didn’t even try for the latter. And justice remains an orphan in DuPage County.

And much, much more. Get on over there.

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Guv to appeal

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Not sure he’ll be too successful.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich vowed to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that shot down a new Illinois law banning the sale of violent or sexual video games to minors.

U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly ruled Friday that Illinois’ restrictions are unconstitutional and barred the state from enforcing the law. […]

“This battle is not over,” Blagojevich said in a statement. “Parents should be able to expect that their kids will not have access to excessively violent and sexually explicit video games without their permission.”

Actually, what the judge said was this:

â€œIf controlling access to allegedly â€˜dangerousâ€™ speech is important in promoting the positive psychological development of children, in our society that role is properly accorded to parents and families, not the state.”

And this:

â€œAt most, researchers have been able to show a correlation between playing violent video games and a slightly increased level of aggressive thoughts and behavior,â€ he wrote. â€œWith these limited findings, it is impossible to know which way the causal relationship runs: it may be that aggressive children may also be attracted to violent video games.â€

12 Comments

Quinn wants protest ban

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Pat Quinn has an interesting idea.

Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn says he’s introducing legislation that will prevent protests at funeral services.

Quinn says the “Let Them Rest in Peace Act” is a response to a series of demonstrations at funeral services for military personnel.

The act applies to all funerals and memorial services. It creates a 300-foot buffer zone between protesters and the site of funeral services.

The zone would be in effect from 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after the funeral.

I doubt this would be constitutional. And I’m not one for banning speech of any kind. But Quinn has attended almost every funeral of fallen Illinois soldiers, so he’s most likely had a bellyful of those Westboro Baptist “church” morons.

Quinn disagrees that the law would be unconstitutional.

But Quinn said the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the type of restrictions he is proposing.

10 Comments

Claypool gets two big endorsements

Monday, Dec 5, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Phelan and Simon support Forest:

Former Cook County Board presidents Richard Phelan and Seymour Simon are endorsing Forrest Claypoolâ€™s bid to be elected to their old job.

Mr. Claypool, who is to formally announce his candidacy Monday against incumbent board President John Stroger, also has signed up former League of Chicago Theaters President and CEO Marj Halperin as his campaign manager.

Not bad, but it’s like that old saying, “How many soldiers does the Pope have?” Claypool has $1.5 million on hand. Not bad, but not nearly enough yet to mout an effective TV ad campaign.

2 Comments

New poll has no surprises, produces no results

Saturday, Dec 3, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

A looong meeting between Illinois GOP Chairman Andy McKenna and the five candidates for governor produced almost no results. Only Bill Brady and Judy Topinka agreed to abide by a good conduct code. And nobody was impressed that Topinka was beating them like a mule in the party’s poll.

A GOP poll shows Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka with a commanding lead over her four potential Republican rivals, but the findings failed to nudge any of them from the race Friday.

In a bid to cull the herd of Republican gubernatorial wannabes, senior GOP leaders met privately in Chicago with the candidates and presented results of a party-commissioned poll, which had Topinka leading dairy magnate James Oberweis by a 39- to 12-percent margin.

The statewide survey of 400 voters taken Tuesday and Wednesday also found Topinka to be the only Republican in the field ahead of Gov. Blagojevich in a face-to-face matchup, leading by a 39- to 35-percent margin.

Buoyed by those results, Topinka has narrowed her search for a running mate to Rep. Jim Watson (R-Jacksonville) and Doug Whitley, head of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and member of former Gov. Jim Edgar’s Cabinet.

After Topinka and Oberweis, other Republicans trailed far behind. The survey showed Sen. Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin) with 6 percent, businessman Ron Gidwitz with 3.5 percent and Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) with 3 percent.

I’ll open comments on this Monday.

4 Comments

Have a great weekend

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Comments are now off. Talk at you Monday.

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Today at Illinoize…

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Unlike this blog, Illinoize will be open for business all weekend, and the comments will be left on.

There were some very good posts today and late yesterday.

The Illinois Shadow is his/her usual best with a funny post about Judy Baar Topinka’s new nickname. The Shadow doesn’t like it.

Bill Dennis may have a big scoop about his local government.

Grand Old Partisan has a very well thought-out piece about the upcoming GOP primary. A must-read.

My personal favorite this week comes from President Nixon, who gives us a Top Ten list.

Governor’s top ten upcoming initiatives

10. Placing a $1 million dollar bounty on Osama bin Laden’s head.
9. Passing resolution stating, “Cold weather is not cool”.
8. Proposing law requiring every professional sports team to have an Elvis night.
7. Initiating Illinois funny money with “In Rod We Trust” inscribed on it.
6. Running as a Republican so he can debate himself and still win.
5. Officially renaming Springfield “Do I really have to go thereville”.
4. In an effort to boost foreign policy credentials, will activate the National Guard to invade Iowa
3. Outlawing Grandparents Day.
2. Rename Illinois, “Rezmar”.
1. Indefinetly postpone the November 2006 General Election.

Tricky Dick is also asking for more suggestions.

There’s a lot more. Sorry for those I missed. Hightail it over yonder and see for yourself.

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This just in… Giannoulias to announce Sunday

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Liberal banking heir Alexi Giannoulias will announce Sunday that he is running for state treasurer. Giannoulias will face slated candidate Paul Mangieri in the Democratic primary.

Word is some serious heavy-hitters are endorsing him. More later.

UPDATE: US Senator Barack Obama will reportedly be on hand Sunday to endorse Giannoulias.

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., Alderman Dick Mell, Rep. John Fritchey and others will be there as well.

60 Comments

Question of the day

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

It’s Friday, so let’s do something offbeat.

Let’s say you owned a tavern, and instead of naming sandwiches after prominent politicians, you decided to rename various drinks for them.

Have at it.

~~UPDATE: Well, that lasted longer than I thought it would. Comments closed. And I think it was one guy who did it.~~

~~My friend, I’m gonna hunt you down like a dog.~~

37 Comments

As mentioned in today’s Capitol Fax

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Here is the story where Jim Oberweis says he’s not connected to George Ryan.

Here is the Chicago Tribune story about Oberweis’ meeting with Ryan.

For the final piece of the puzzle, you have to subscribe to the Capitol Fax.

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Guv fires back

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

I mentioned this story in today’s Capitol Fax.

It appears the gloves are coming off in the race for governor. On Wednesday Republican candidate Judy Baar Topinka announced she and the Republican Party plan to take out incumbent Rod Blagojevich and fix the state’s fiscals mess. Now the governor says Topinka and the Republicans are to blame for that mess. […]

“The Republicans that were in Springfield, that worked with George Ryan and allowed the worst fiscal crisis, I think they had their fair share of responsibility,” Blagojevich said.

Governor Blagojevich said Illinois voters should remember that Judy Baar Topinka was the state treasurer, the keeper of the cash, when George Ryan was governor. So she’s responsible in part for the multi-billion dollar budget deficit he inherited from Ryan. And her claims of fiscal expertise are disingenuous.

“We dealt with that fiscal crisis and we did in it a way that no one said was possible. We didn’t ask the working people of our state to pay more in taxes. We held the line on taxes,” Blagojevich said.

45 Comments

Educators say they need help with other things

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

From the Rockford Register-Star.

When Stephen Mack Middle School started offering chef salads at lunch this year, they sold like hot cakes.

So much so, the school had to a hire another cafeteria worker to prepare them.

Pop sales at Stephen Mack and Rocktonâ€™s other public schools are down; students and teachers are buying more bottled water, sports drinks and juice.

Some principals are removing vending machines. In Rockford, cafeterias offer pieces of fresh fruit free of charge.

Local educators say they donâ€™t need Gov. Rod Blagojevich to tell them to become more nutrition-conscious, and his latest proposal to ban junk-food sales in the stateâ€™s public schools lacks substance.

â€œRight now, there are bigger issues to deal with than whether or not weâ€™re serving junk food in school,â€ Rockton Superintendent Jean Harezlak said.

â€œIâ€™ll deal with that issue. Help me figure out how Iâ€™m going to replace roofs and mechanical heating and ventilation systems. Thatâ€™s the kind of help I need from the people in Springfield.â€

Junk food, video games and tattoos have been targeted so far by the governor. One can’t help wonder what will be next.

14 Comments

The Supremes

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

Some of the actions taken yesterday by the IL Supreme Court:

â€¢Upheld a 2001 law imposing a $120 million settlement on challenges to Illinois Bellâ€™s rates for business services. […]

â€¢Upheld the conviction of a woman who argued her lawyer never should have stipulated that the substance found in her car was cocaine.

â€¢Rejected the arguments of a mother who said the stateâ€™s child-welfare agency had no authority to cross the border to take custody of her newborn son at an Indiana hospital.

â€¢Ruled prosecutors did not act improperly by calling a murder suspectâ€™s actions â€œpure evil.â€ It also allowed use of the suspectâ€™s confession, which was obtained during repeated interrogations over two days.

2 Comments

Did anyone see this?

Friday, Dec 2, 2005 - Posted by Rich Miller

From yesterday.

llinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and St. Louis lawyer Ed Martin are slated to appear late this afternoon on CNNâ€™s â€œLou Dobbs Tonightâ€™â€™ to discuss Illinoisâ€™ rule requiring pharmacies to fill emergency-contraception prescriptions.

The show runs from 5-6 p.m. Central time. Martin will join Dobbs in New York, while Blagojevich will be based in Chicago.

Martin is the lawyer representing the four Walgreen Co. pharmacists from the Metro East who were put on unpaid leave for refusing to fill such prescriptions. Martin also works for Americans United for Life, and is the Republican chairman for the St. Louis Election Board.

I’m curious how it went.

UPDATE: The transcript is up.

“To suggest that somehow pharmacists should be treated differently, would be to suggest for example, that when you go to your supermarket and the clerk is checking out your food, and that clerk may be a vegetarian, that when you check through the counter to pay your bill, he’s checking the asparagus and the potatoes and the pasta, but when he gets to the ground sirloin, says: I’m sorry, I have a moral objection to meat, I’m not going to sell you the hamburger.”

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